


Let's Get Married

by Gayshippingiselementary



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Awesome Pepper Potts, Blushing Tony Stark, Howard Stark's A+ Parenting, Ironhusbands, James "Rhodey" Rhodes & Tony Stark Friendship, James "Rhodey" Rhodes is a Good Bro, James "Rhodey" Rhodes loves Tony Stark, M/M, Pepper Potts & Tony Stark Friendship, Romantic Tony Stark, Tony Stark Feels, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Tony Stark-centric, Tony Wants To Get Married, Tony and Rhodey are in LOVE
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-26
Updated: 2018-11-26
Packaged: 2019-08-29 13:03:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,879
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16744528
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gayshippingiselementary/pseuds/Gayshippingiselementary
Summary: Tony has dreamed about getting married since he was really young. As he grows up, he realizes how unlikely it is that he'll get a happy ending. Luckily, Rhodey has something to say about that.





	Let's Get Married

Tony started planning his wedding when he was a young child. He stared at the photos of his father and mother at the altar relentlessly. He loved the way his mother smiled at the camera, bashful and elated. Her dark curls spilling down her back: unrestrained. Tony had never seen her with her hair down. He was fascinated by the lace around her wrists and collarbones. She looked radiant and happy. Her eyes were glowing with unshed tears. Howard wasn’t even looking at the camera. He was just gazing at his wife with all the love in the whole world. Tony wondered where all that love went. He never saw his parents look at each other like that.

He knew that should probably deter him from wanting a wedding, the way his mother never was home, and his father spent all his time yelling, but it didn’t. It only made Tony want it more. He had always been yelled at by his father for being too soft, for loving things a little too much. It hurt Tony’s feelings, but he knew his father was right. He vowed that one day he would look at someone like Howard looked at Maria, but he would never let that love fade. He imagined standing in a tux waiting for the love of his life. That would be a gift. Tony would never let that slip away.

Up until he entered college, he imagined he’d get married pretty young. He had hoped maybe in his twenties. Then he turned fifteen, went to MIT, and everything changed. He fell in love with a boy named Tiberius. He wasn’t stupid. He knew the way people looked at boys who liked boys. He and Tiberius snuck around, and Tony was convinced that one day when the world got a clue, they would get married. It worked for a while until the middle of sophomore year when someone saw them. Tiberius threw him to the wolves and smeared his name all across campus. He tried to sell his story to the newspapers, but Howard told all of the newspapers/magazines that if they ran a story on his son being gay, they would be sued for everything they had. Howard was a lot of things but not a liar. Their relationship was the worst kept secret. Everyone Tony had ever met knew about it.

When he returned home for the holidays, his father was furious. He screamed at him to keep his perversion under control. His naïve dream of his parents in the front row of his wedding shattered. His mother was silent throughout the whole thing.

Once Howard left, she whispered to him, “Anthony, please, can’t you just be normal?”

Tony clenched his jaw and did his best not to cry.

Still, Tony was a genius, and Howard needed an heir. Their relationship in the public was still flawless. Tony felt something inside of him break.

He met James Rhodes in the beginning of junior year. He was seventeen and completely done with everyone’s bullshit. He had been completely ostracized since he was outed at school. Everyone was convinced that Tony was contagious.

James sat next to him during their shared lab, and suddenly they were partners at school and in life. They fit together like puzzle pieces. They became best friends.

Tony acted like a complete disaster, and Rhodey kept him together. They were a good pair. Not to say that Rhodey didn’t also get into trouble. There was one instance with a centrifuge that Tony swore was his favorite thing that had ever happened. They were good for each other in all the wrong ways. Tony insisted that they were platonic soulmates and were fated to meet in that class. Rhodey always rolled his eyes.

“Rhodey, will you move in with me next year?” Tony was sitting upside down on his arm chair. His hair was outrageously curly, his glasses were crooked on his face, and his stupid, too big jean jacket was on the floor. The dumb robot he built for a competition was rolling around behind him. He looked completely ridiculous, and his apartment was a mess, and Dum-E had just poured coffee all over Rhodey’s textbooks.

“Of course, Tones.”

They lived together all of senior year. Tony tried not to think about the fact that Rhodey was leaving to be an officer in the army soon. He did his best to spend his time with Rhodey in the moment.

They graduated, Howard didn’t show, and Rhodey held him while he cried.

When he saw Rhodey off at the airport, there was no one to hold him. He just sat in his apartment alone and wept. He tried to focus on getting his masters degrees, but there was a hole in his life that he didn’t know how to fill.

Rhodey came back to visit occasionally, but he turned twenty and then twenty-one without his friend by his side. He did his best to find someone else to be close to. He went on dates with girls that turned around and sold their stories to the media. He thought about Rhodey leaving, and Tiberius, and Sunset the only girl he’d really loved who lied and stole his designs. He decided that his father was right. He did love too much.

His perspective shifted. He slept with women all the time and gave the finger to all the journalists that followed him around. He crafted a cocky persona to hide behind. No one could hurt him if they didn’t really know him. He drank and smoked and threw his good reputation away. He was still brilliant, but he was tired.

He went home to visit his parents for Christmas. They were on their way out the door. Some business thing. Tony lost it. He screamed at Howard, at Maria.

They left, and they never came back.

Tony wasn’t technically a family member, so Rhodey wasn’t granted leave for the funeral.

There was no one to hold him when he cried.

Obadiah put his hand on Tony’s shoulder, and he wondered whether his uncle was the only person he had left.

Tony spent his next few years hollow and alone. He didn’t know anything about running a company. Honestly, he didn’t want any part of it. He let Obadiah be in charge of everything. He just signed his name and looked pretty.

He partied even harder than he did before. His wedding plans evaporated. He tried to convince himself that he didn’t care.

He realized he was in love with Rhodey after he turned thirty. His assistant Pepper was beautiful and smart and badass. He should have loved her. He wanted too, but he couldn’t. She walked into his office one day to find him sitting at his desk and staring at a picture of him and Rhodey.

They were dressed so freaking stupid: the height of eighties fashion, but Tony wouldn’t change a single thing about it. Tony was looking at Rhodey with those stupid big brown eyes. His father’s eyes. He knew that look. He didn’t know how he’d never noticed it before, maybe he just wasn’t paying attention.

Tony was in love with Rhodey, so hopelessly in love with him.

He sobbed into Pepper’s shoulder for around an hour. He had always known he loved too much and too hard. He refused to ruin his longest friendship over it.

It wasn’t until Afghanistan that anything happened. When he was tortured, he couldn’t think about anything but how fucking happy he was that Rhodey wasn’t in the Humvee with him. Every night he dreamed about Rhodey. Sometimes it was a daring rescue, but mostly it was just scenes from their apartment.

“Tony, can you tell your robot to stop throwing our mugs? My favorite one is broken.” Rhodey shouted.

Tony popped into the room with an annoyed look on his face, “oh, he’s _my_ robot. Just yesterday you were all like I think I should get 50% of the credit on raising Dum-E because he clearly loves me the most”

“You made him!” Rhodey quipped back.

“You taught him to fetch!” Tony screamed.

The two stared each other down. Tony’s eyes flicked over to the mugs on the counter that Rhodey had just finished washing.

“Don’t you fucking dare” Rhodey warned.

Tony just smirked and with one flick of his wrist sent a mug crashing to the ground.

“I guess he is my son.” Tony said lightly with a small grin on his face.

“You are so stupid,” Rhodey screeched as he chased after his smaller roommate, “you’re like a goddamn cat.”

Then he would wake up, and drown, and do it all again.

He escaped, but Yinson had died. Tony repeated his last words in his head like a mantra as he hiked through the desert. _Don’t waste your life_. He felt hysterical. He was going to die out here all by himself. His life was already gone.

He was convinced that when Rhodey appeared in front of him it was a hallucination, until his strong arms wrapped around him.

“Next time you ride with me, Tones, do you hear me?” Rhodey looked like a desperate man. His eyes wouldn’t leave Tony’s.

Tony thought to himself. Don’t waste your life. And he wouldn’t. He refused to.

“I’m in love with you.” Tony choked out, “I’m not hallucinating or traumatized or not thinking straight. I spent three months thinking that I was going to die and never get to tell you. So, I’m telling you. I love you, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you.”

It wasn’t his most elegant speech, but he was exhausted and dehydrated and it was the best he could do.

Rhodey let his hand rest against Tony’s face.

“I love you too, you stupid idiot, and I am not letting you die on me. Get on that helicopter. We’re going home.”

They kissed for the first time after Tony shut down weapons manufacturing. Rhodey was so angry, but held Tony’s hips like he was something precious.

“I am so angry with you right now, but I love you. I am always going to support you.” Rhodey hissed into his ear.

Tony felt his whole body light up with a blush. He was Iron Man. He shouldn’t get flustered over his best friend.

Two years later, the two of them were still going strong. Although, they were doing it secretly. Don’t Ask Don’t Tell was repealed, and Rhodey called Tony on the phone crying.

“I’m finally going to get to call you my baby. Tones, I can’t believe this.” Rhodey’s voice was so light and happy. Tony felt a weight in his chest.

“I’m so happy for you, Honey Bear, but you can’t tell people we’re dating. Even though it’s repealed, your career will be over just because it’s me. The government hates me, and so does everyone else.”

“Shut up! That may be true right now, but one day I am going to marry you, and everyone can suck my dick.” Rhodey growled and hung up.

Tony shed a couple tears, he wouldn’t lie. He hadn’t let himself fantasize getting married in a long time, but it was all coming back.

He pictured Rhodey standing at the altar in a pressed black suit or maybe his air force blues. Tony pictured himself walking down the aisle in a suit as well. Pepper would be his best woman, standing up next to him. He’d grab Rhodey’s hands in his. They would kiss. Tony didn’t picture either of them changing their names. It seemed unnecessary, but maybe. He pictured their honeymoon. Somewhere on an island where no danger could reach them.

Then he remembered that gay marriage wasn’t legal in New York.

Then it was.

He was rejected for the Avengers initiative, and he tried to not complain about it too much to Rhodey.

Rhodey saw right through his dumb cocky façade and reassured him that he was a good man. Rhodey had a lot of murder fantasies about all the people that were responsible for Tony thinking that everyone else was more important than him.

New York happened, and Tony lived somehow. He tried to call Rhodey on the way up. He wanted to apologize for wasting their lives. They should have just gone to Massachusetts and gotten married where they met. They should have just done all the things Tony was too scared to do.

He was eating shawarma with the other members of the Avengers – weirdest thing ever – when Rhodey burst through the doors.

“James!” Tony exclaimed. He stood up from his chair and took a couple steps away from his team. He knew that whatever was going to happen would be explosive.

“Stark, who is this?” Freaking Captain America asked. Tony was still going to need some time to recover from that.

Tony was about to give his party line about Rhodey being his best friend from college when he was interested.

“I’m the love of his life” Rhodey growled.

“Oh, we’re coming out about our relationship now? Why do we always do these things when you’re mad at me? We should stop that.” Tony was rambling.

“Then maybe stop doing stupid shit that makes me mad.” Rhodey closed his eyes.

“Hey, you knew I was stupid when you started dating me.” Tony pointed out.

Rhodey held up his hand, “I thought I watched you die today. Don’t ever make me do that again.”

They both knew that there were no guarantees in their line of work.

“I promise, Platypus.”

“Speaking of doing things when I’m mad…” Rhodey started. He got down on one knee right in the middle of the rubble of the shawarma restaurant.

Tony’s whole face was frozen in shock. There were tears in his eyes already. His lower lip was shaking.

“I’m sorry I’m doing it like this, baby. I know you’re a closet romantic unlike what you tell everyone. I had a whole big plan. I was going to bring you back to that park we used to hang out in back in college, use some stupid excuse about being good alumnus. I was going to propose perfectly, honey, but we’ve never been perfect, have we?”

Tony shook his head in agreement still too awed to speak. He couldn’t believe this was happening.

“I fell in love with my best friend ten years ago. I love everything about you. I love the way you make me laugh. I love the stupid things you get up to. I love having to come save your dumbass when that stuff goes wrong. I love co-parenting a weird robot you made when you were sixteen. I would have married you back then if the world had allowed it. I know you’re worried about what people will say, but baby, fuck the world. The only people that matter are you and I. Everyone else will just have to deal with it because I want to marry the man of my dreams. So, this is it, Tones. Will you marry me?”

He pulled a ring box out of his pants pocket. The sides were worn like Rhodey had held it in his hands a lot. He opened it up, and Tony covered his mouth. It was a silver band with a red line running through it. Inside the words _you ride with me_ were engraved.

Tony let out a startled laugh. There was so much meaning in those words.

“James, yes! Yes!” Tony didn’t even wait for Rhodey to get up. He collapsed to his knees as well and pulled his fiancée into a bruising kiss.

Only a few months later, they had their wedding. They had waited so long that they felt like a long engagement didn’t even make sense. U and Butterfingers were the flower girls, and Dum-E was the ring bearer. It was a complete disaster, but it was perfect. The Avengers were all sitting in the audience except for Bruce who was standing behind Tony with Pepper and his three robots.

It came time for Tony to read his vows, and he felt like his whole life had led up to this moment. There was Rhodey in a suit in front of him with the most lovestruck look on his face. It was everything he’d ever dreamed about and more.

“I started planning my wedding when I was a kid, but I never could have thought up something this perfect. James, I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with you. I can’t wait to steal all your coffee, and annoy Pepper, and kiss you in public, and stand next to you when you’re hurt or scared or down. I’ve spent a lot of my life being worried about wasting it, but I’m not anymore. I know that every second of my life I spend with you is worth it. I can’t wait to be married to you, honey bear.”

When they were pronounced husband and husband, the whole room erupted into cheers. Rhodey dipped Tony as they kissed. Tony started giggling as they looked at each other.

“I wanted to make up for my lack of romantic proposal. Did it work?”

“Yeah. It worked.”

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! Please leave a comment if you enjoyed :)


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